Favorite Characters: Trish Walker (Jessica Jones)

Jessica does a bang-up job on her own as the MCU’s first female superhero to get her name in the title, and her presence is more than enough to make me love the show.  But then there’s Trish.  Ye gods, I love the crap out of Trish, one of Marvel’s best examples of a non-hero who can hold her own (premise spoilers.)

We’re first introduced to Trish as Jessica’s long-suffering, semi-estranged best friend.  You get the sense that, after what originally went down with Kilgrave, Trish tried to help, but Jessica did her Jessica thing and pushed her friend away.  Although Trish we meet is concerned and supportive, she also recognizes Jessica’s self-destructiveness and wrestles with how to help without enabling.  More than anything, she wants to see Jessica regain some peace of mind and get back on the superhero horse.

Jessica wouldn’t admit it, but Trish is a good person to have in her corner after Kilgrave.  While Trish has never been mindraped by a superpowered psychopath, she’s familiar with both trauma and harmful coping mechanisms.  As a child actress, she survived physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her demanding mother/manager, and she’s recovered from the addiction that plagued her in the wake of that abuse to become a successful professional.  She’s been through the fire and come out stronger for it; Jessica, however, can’t recognize even the barest similarities between her struggles and Trish’s, and so she doesn’t think Trish can empathize or help in any meaningful way.

Obviously, this both worries and frustrates Trish.  In addition to not wanting to see her friend go down a bad path, she’s not eager to be a side character in anyone else’s story.  While Trish doesn’t force Jessica into accepting help she’s not ready for, she makes it clear that she wants to be there for Jessica and that, contrary to what Jessica might think, she can contribute in important ways.  She’s smart and brave, she has resources that can be of use, and she may not be able to go toe-to-toe with a powered person, but she’s not just a liability.  After her own abuse, she decided she was through with being a victim, and Jessica’s experience with Kilgrave just made her more determined; she’s taken the initiative to learn how to defend herself pretty impressively, and she takes other reasonable measures to keep herself and Jessica safe.

One thing I really love about Trish as the superhero’s non-powered friend is that she never tries to talk Jessica out of using her abilities (in fact, she’s the one who encouraged Jessica to go the hero route in the first place, and at the start of the series, when Jessica is out of the game, Trish is urging her to get back into it as a means of helping her move on from her trauma.)  The “you have to stop this; it’s too dangerous!” mantra crops up often in superhero stories – for other Marvel properties, think of Pepper in the first Iron Man or Foggy in Daredevil – and given the huge dangers that these largely-untrained heroes take on, that concern is understandable.  And to be sure, Trish worries about Jessica’s safety, but she also knows how vital Jessica’s work is.  She doesn’t tell Jessica not to do what she does.  She just tells Jessica that, first, she won’t do herself any favors by charging in without a plan, and second, she doesn’t have to do it alone.  Jessica is a major lone-wolf type, and she needs someone like Trish reminding her that others can bring something to the table as well, and that she’s stronger with friends to back her up.

Relationship Spotlight: Jessica Jones & Trish Walker (Jessica Jones)

And just for a change of pace, how ‘bout a Marvel superhero and their non-powered best friend?  (But seriously, folks…)  Trish and Jessica’s relationship intrigued from my first glimpses of it, and over the course of the season, it became one of my favorite things in a show packed with goodness (backstory spoilers.)

I’ll be honest – when I first saw Jessica come to Trish’s apartment in the pilot, I wasn’t sure what to make of them.  I could tell they obviously meant a lot to each other, and it was clear that they’d been going through a rough/possibly-estranged patch, but I didn’t know what type of relationship was on the rocks.  Were they friends?  Sisters?  Exes?  There wasn’t one distinct vibe in terms of how the related to each other; the main thing that really came through was the strength of how they felt, not the form it took.

(I suppose it makes sense.  Technically, Jessica and Trish could be considered both friends and sisters, since Jessica was taken in by Trish’s mom after her family was killed and the two eventually became incredibly close, and I see how Jessica has something more akin to emotional intimacy with Trish than she does with Luke, her prospective love interest.)

But anyway, let’s get to the more interesting stuff.  Trish and Jessica’s defining quality seems to be a loyalty that’s unfailing but realistic.  Both have offered emotional support and help to the other when they clearly need it but insist that they don’t – when they were teenagers, Jessica confronted Trish about her controlling stage mother’s physical abuse, and throughout season 1, Trish tries to help Jessica process the overwhelming revelation that Kilgrave is still alive.  Both are tenacious in their efforts to break down the other’s walls (tough love is a definite factor with these two,) but they also know that they can’t ultimately help someone who refuses to accept it.  So, they both reach points where they fall back and give the other space, not giving up but saving their words for a time when the other will be more receptive.

Any relationship like this has to eventually address the superpowered elephant in the room, and Jessica and Trish are no exception.  In flashbacks, we see a period where Trish is filled with excitement at Jessica’s powers – more so than Jessica herself – and it’s in fact Trish who first suggests that Jessica should use them to fight crime.  In the present, Trish’s take on Jessica’s powers is more balanced, recognizing the power, the responsibility, and the danger, and while she’s still in favor of Jessica using her powers for good, she’s more measured in her encouragement.

She always doesn’t want to see Jessica taking on all the risk herself.  Since Jessica’s first encounter with Kilgrave, Trish has been learning self-defense, both to protect herself and to acitively assist Jessica.  Jessica, no surprise, isn’t thrilled at that idea.  Apart from her lone wolf, “I don’t need help from anyone!” attitude, she’s protective of Trish in a way that she thinks is totally justified but that Trish feels is a bit paternalistic.  Season 1 finds both of them having to reevaluate their stances:  Jessica seeing how her friend can stand on her own, Trish realizing just how intense the stakes are when she gets involved in something like this.